You got to give this female hunter some credit.

Virginia has a long history of deer hunting. However, this giant 16-point buck is now officially the largest ever taken by a female hunter in the state. Melanie Long is the lucky hunter who was able to take it down, and now the mount is on tour all over the state. Before we get to all that though, first the story of the buck…

Craig Long, Melanie’s husband, had seen this impressive deer over five seasons roaming the farm where he hunts. However, when muzzleloader season came around, it all fell together.

“I happened to see something out of the corner of my eye,” Melanie said in an interview with The Roanoke Times. Her husband then confirmed it was the buck he had seen by scoping it with binoculars.

It was then reported that Melanie took the shot at 80 years and dropped the big deer clean.

“We knew he was something special from the trail cam pictures,” her husband said. “We knew he was a massive buck. When we put our hands on him, we knew he was ever bigger than we thought.”

As far as the shows go, at the recent Eastern Virginia Big Game Trophy Show, her buck registered 235 9/16 inches. With no surprise, she took top honors at the show becoming the first woman to do so in 77 years.

Next, Melanie’s buck heads to the Western Region and State Big Game Show Sept. 23 through 25. If she wins, she will be the first ever woman to be ranked number one in the state with that honor.